The Avengers @ Grand Victory; TacocaT @ Mercury Lounge

Rock n roll was long a boys' game, even when a Patti Smith or a Joan Jett took the bull by the horns and destroyed (however briefly) the male lock on rock n roll swagger. But with each generation it is more and more clear that (what's left) of rock n roll has become the equal playground for male and female (and as you'll read soon, other genders). Perhaps one could even make the case that the best rock n roll today is being made by women (in some cases, as you'll read soon, FOR women) at more a consistent clip than is currently being made by men.

But this point had to come from somewhere. The Avengers were there at the beginning. When the band came out of San Francisco in the late 70's, they put their ferocious sound behind the voice of Penelope Houston and now decades later she continues to lead that pugnacious stampede. Their anthem "The American in Me" has never been more appropriate than in these times (except when it was just as appropriate every year in between its release and today). Hearing it at the climax of their show at the Grand Victory was exactly the kind of gut-punching magic needed.

One of today's sets of the best and the brightest are the Seattle happy warriors called TacocaT. With pointed songs about life as a young woman today, they do the most remarkable thing in this plastic era by being authentic, sincere and true. It certainly helps that their messages come wrapped in little gifts of punk and power pop. And though the Lower East Side is certainly not their stompin' grounds, it's like they lived here all these recent years with their new smash hit (currently 5 weeks at #1 on this writer's weekly countdown of new songs), "I Hate the Weekend", a sweetly made middle finger to what here in Gotham we might call the "B&T crowd" but of course extend to the rest of the plastic phony brigades that killed the heart of the city from their 1% lofts. When TacocaT are not telling it like it is straight out, they dish out things like the tribute "Dana Katherine Scully", another way to send the message that this is not your uncle's rock n roll world anymore.

At the Avengers show, I saw old favorites Les Sans Culottes who have not changed. At all. At all. Opening the night were Youthquake, a hardcore-lite act led by a trans...gender? (not clear on all the terms these days) that actually has absolutely no bearing on the band's sound and style which is the biggest thing to point out if something needs to be pointed out at all, which it doesn't.

Meanwhile at the Mercury Lounge, I thought I had another example of these new times when I thought I found a woman putting on make-up in the men's room. But no it was the bass player dude in Boyfriends, Seattle tour partners of TacocaT. And this group - the one all-male act on either of these bills - sell it in fine style with their direct replications (in all the good ways) of Television, Joy Division, the Strokes, the Rapture, etc. A perfect set. Another fine set came from Daddy Issues, a grunge-inclined trio with excellently written songs and a cover of "Boys of Summer" which I did not see coming. Ian are another trio who should keep at it.

Pity I didn't see Bleached at Music Hall of Williamsburg in between these well timed shows. They are another big example of this new dawn. We're finally all in this together.